Peter drove the kid home to his place. Why not back to the office, he asked himself. Why had his instinct been to drive home? Because if Neal had not been thirty and he not the kid's handler, this would have been a family discussion. Age-wise, he could have been Neal's big brother. In real life, the young con man in his protection was so much younger. Or was Peter just older than his age? Or was it just that the kid had never learned to face the consequences? No. Neal had faced them several times. He just did not care. The positive always overwhelmed the negative.
They ate dinner, all three of them. Neal told of his plan, what he had 'bought,' and why. Peter did not ask how Neal took the identity of Dupont. Not only was it illegal what he had done. It also, most likely, included Sara.
"I should have known there was gonna be trouble when Sara moved in," he said, helping El with the dishes.
"She didn't move in."
El hid a giggle while she put things away in the fridge.
"You don't have a hundred and twenty-five million dollars at your disposal," Peter said. "Yet both things apparently are true."
"Well, in the past, the Bureau's okayed extravagant stings, right?" El said.
"That's right, honey. The Bureau okays them." This had not gone through the Bureau, though. It was hard to okay something that had already happened. "There are checks and balances - a notion that goes beyond Neal's comprehension."
"No, I understand checks," Neal protested, sipping his wine. "It's just the balances that I struggle with."
"Well, we're not any closer to finding the Vulture."
"Vulture?" El asked.
"A hacker with a knack for fomenting social unrest," the kid said. "But theft has never been his M.O."
"No? Well, I'll ask him when we bring him in," Peter said, finishing the dishes. He took a beer out of the fridge. "Any idea how we can get this guy?"
"No, that's Mozzie's province. I keep my heists in the third dimension."
"Well, I'm sure he could help," El said. "Why don't I give Mozzie a call?"
Peter stared as she brought out her phone and made a call.
"You have his number?"
"We chat," she said, taking her glass and leaving them for privacy.
"They chat." Peter stared after her. First Sara, now El? Was everyone pulled into the spell of crime around him?
"I wouldn't be too concerned," the kid said. "Mozzie is very good with boundaries."
Peter's eyes turned to Neal.
"El is an adult, and I trust her completely when it comes to boundaries. If anything happened, I would hear it from her." Neal frowned. "What?"
"Nothing."
"Sure about that?"
"Nothing of importance, I mean. I was just thinking… if I did something and then told you, would that make it okay?"
Peter was about to sip from his beer bottle but halted.
"Neal, it will not surprise you if I say El and I are having a romantic relationship. You and I are not. You're a crook, and I'm the law and—"
"And we are friends."
"And yes, we are friends," Peter confirmed, "but what I mean is, what you do to me and what El does are two different things. You are my responsibility in a way El will never be."
"Moz will be over in twenty minutes," El said, returning to the kitchen.
"He'll help?" Peter was agape.
"I'm not sure about that," El said. "He might be here just to make sure you don't catch him."
"What did you say to him?"
"That you're looking for the Vulture and needed help from someone moving in those circles."
"Looking for, not catching?" Peter asked.
"Well…" She shrugged. Peter sighed. He exchanged a look with the kid.
"Is it possible to get a little more wine," Neal asked.
As promised, Mozzie knocked on the door. He had a small laptop under his arm. After exchanging pleasantries with his wife, the man's eyes fell on Peter.
"Ah. Suit." He stared at him in silence.
"Hi, Moz," the kid said.
"Neal," Mozzie acknowledged, but his eyes returned to Peter. "You want to catch the Vulture."
"Yes, we want to catch the Vulture," Peter said bluntly.
"Neal! What made you think I wanted to help?"
"I didn't."
"I did," El said. "Or at least I could ask. Rather the Vulture than Neal."
"What's Neal got to do with it?"
"He robbed a bank," Peter said.
"Yes, I know."
Of course, Mozzie was involved. Peter wanted to cuff the guy and get him out of the way. El must have felt something.
"I've arranged with beer and wine for you outside on the patio," she said.
They moved out and sat down. Peter sat armed, crossed, and stared at Mozzie, waiting. Mozze met his stare. Then he put the laptop on the table and opened the lid. He stared at Peter in silence again before he said:
"I'm not here to catch Vulture."
"He's a criminal," Peter said. "That's exactly why you're here."
"I'm here to prove his innocence. And if you're gonna use your government trickery for any other purpose, I withdraw my services."
"Calm down, Moz," the kid said. "Peter won't arrest the Vulture if he isn't guilty." Peter blinked and gave Neal a stare, which the kid returned boldly.
El came out to them.
"Ah," Mozzie said and smiled. "Moroccan mint tea. Mrs. Suit just bought you an extra five minutes."
"I see you boys are getting along."
"Like Burr and Hamilton," the kid said.
"Fellow revolutionaries?"
"Pistol at noon."
"Mozzie's explaining why I should recategorize the Vulture as a civic hero," Peter said.
"Well, maybe Mozzie's right," El said. "Maybe the Vulture isn't the thief."
"Honey…" Alright. He did not know. He had no proof, only circumstances. He exhaled and leaned forward. "Tell me who he is, and I'll hear him out."
"How should I know who he is?" Mozzie asked, looking at his screen. Peter gave up. He rose and walked out on the lawn.
"Look..." Neal said, coming after him. "The entire hacker lifestyle is based on anonymity. Chances are, the Vulture's best friends don't know his name."
"How am I gonna catch this guy?"
"Mozzie, how are you gonna contact him?" El asked.
"The online underground communicates via I.R.C;" he answered.
"Internet relay chat," Peter said. "I know what it is."
"If you need to send a message to the Vulture on the Internet superhighway, then this is where you hang the billboard."
"Well, how do we get the attention of a hacker?" Neal asked. "Say 'hi' from Microsoft source code?"
"How about the feds offer full immunity?" Mozzie asked.
"No. I can't offer full immunity without going up the ladder."
"Uh…" El said, looking at Mozzie's screen, "you might want to go up the ladder."
"You already posted it? Take it down! Now!"
"It can't be undone."
"In fairness," the kid said, "we weren't making much headway without him."
"We also didn't alert the Vulture that we were onto him." Peter clenched his jaws.
Mozzie turned his computer so they could see his screen.
"Oh. So you don't want to meet?"
"The Vulture responded?" That was fast. The kid leaned forward, reading the chat.
"Grand Army Plaza, tomorrow morning," he said.
Mozzie drank his tea.
"Thank me any time."
Peter exhaled. Mozzie had got Vulture to agree on a meeting with the FBI, stating they would give him full immunity. That was nothing Peter could promise. But if the Vulture agreed to a meeting, he must likely know something he could bargain with. Why else turn up at all? Well, they had little to lose by going tomorrow.
"This location's too public," his handler said, looking out over the plaza. "There's no way to know who we're looking for."
"The Vulture wants to maintain a strategic advantage," Neal said. It was precisely the exact location he would have picked. The risk of violence was also more negligible when a lot of civilians were around.
"A wise move, given your propensity for casting false accusations," Moz said from the back seat.
"Does anyone have a visual?" Peter asked over the radio.
"There's no sign of him yet," Jones answered.
"I'm checking for smartphones and Internet connections," Diana said.
"You know, we're not far removed from fully sentient automobiles," Moz told them.
"Yeah, we could be experiencing a hostile technological takeover any day now," Peter muttered.
"I'm glad the FBI is taking notice. I have some ideas for international fail-safes that— "
There was a beep. Neal and Peter stared at the display in the car. A message? Neal pressed the listen button.
"I am innocent," a computer voice said.
"See? It knows."
"No, it was reading a text message, Moz."
"Vulture's here," Mozzie said, excited, looking out of the window.
"11:00," Peter said. "Is that him?"
Neal watched a guy buttoning on his phone, walking across the plaza. No, not likely.
"That guy right there with the hat," he said, pointing at the man passing Jones. "He's texting." The next moment, the man smiled and met with the rest of his family.
"Daddy!" He hugged the girl.
Neal sighed.
"I don't see him." Peter voiced his own thoughts.
"It's not a him," Moz said. "It's a her." He was grinning. "She can text without looking."
The screen in the car beeped again. He exchanged a look with Peter and pressed the button to listen.
"Send out the handsome one."
Neal looked at Peter and then at Mozzie. No one objected. When he put his hand on the door handle, it beeped again. Neal paused, and Peter pressed to listen this time.
"The one in the back," the voice said.
"Consider that a lesson in modesty," Moz said with a grin, opened the door, and walked out on the plaza. They saw him approach a woman in jeans sitting on the foot of the statue. She rose and walked to meet him when a bullet was fired from somewhere.
Peter was out of the car before Neal had time to think. Neal dived out and followed.
"Diana, Vulture's a female, green backpack, headed north," he yelled over the radio, "Jones, locate the shooter."
"Get off me, you corpocratic sycophant!" a woman yelled. It came from the Vulture. Diana had her on her knees with her arms twisted up behind her back.
"She bit me," Diana said, pulling the woman to her feet. Mozzie grinned all over his face when he heard that.
"You work for a government who apportions more weight to lobbyists than to constituents. Who's worse?"
Neal watched her, amazed to find a female Mozzie. Though angry, she was far better looking.
"Jones, you have anything?" Peter asked over the radio.
"We found the roost, but our shoot is long gone." Peter sighed, and so did Neal.
"All right, collect all the evidence and bring it back with ballistics."
"You can keep your little CSI kit in your pants," the Vulture hissed. "The person you're looking for is Kurt Brauer."
"How do you know?" Peter asked.
"Because I helped him build the virus that drained Manhattan Mutual."
That was an exciting and brave confession. A reason for someone to want her dead.
"Get her out of here." Peter grabbed her arm and led her to the car. Neal lingered with Moz.
"Wow," Mozzie grinned.
"No, don't."
"But did you see her?"